A Word from Hope

So What does a meaningful life look like to millennials? Here are 4 characteristics of a meaningful life.

Millennials who lead meaningful lives feel connected to others.Millennials thirst to be mentored by older people. Data has shown that while it appears that we don’t want to learn, we do. Often I get calls from people not asking for peer discipleship but discipleship from older folks. Data shows that when there is a strong connection with someone older in the church, millennials are more likely to stay. Not to mention, discipleship is a great place to help discover purpose. It was through my mentorship with an older, wiser man that I came to understand my purpose.

Millennials who lead meaningful lives feel connected to work. The idea here is that millennials want to feel like a partner with the church and not just someone who gives money to the church. If the church has a vision, (which they should), millennials need to feel that it is their vision as well. Participating in church vision means including them in on the planning. It means if you have a board and they are spiritually mature enough, give them a seat. Give them a piece of the vision to carry out. If young adults don’t feel connected to your church and its vision they will not stay. Remember, meaning is what drives us and for millennials, connectedness gives meaning to the relationship. So many times I have young adults telling me that they have left a nice big church for a smaller more intimate church. The reason is the same all the time; they didn’t feel connected.

Millennials who lead meaningful lives feel connected to a life purpose.This feeling of connection speaks to helping young adults understand why God created them and how their gift is needed for the health of the Church. The question a lot of young adults ask during the discovering age is “Why did God make me?” I believe that it is the job of the church to answer this question. One thing the church must do better is tearing down the idea of Christianity as compartmentalized. We must help young adults see and understand that life purpose and faith-walk drive one another. We help young adults answer “why” questions to help them connect what they are doing with their life purpose.

Millennials who lead meaningful lives feel connected to the world itself.Remember, millennials care about social issues and environmental issues. These things are important to us. If a church is not relating to the world and addressing current issues surrounding the world, you will lose millennials very quickly. Millennials want to deal with the practical things of this world, and if a church refuses to address those issues and get involved, millennials don’t want anything to do with that church. If it continues to happen, they will want nothing to do with any church.

Of course, there are thousands of ways and ideas that we can explore to reach young adults, but I feel that this is a great place to start. Ultimately meaning and purpose comes from a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. If the Church doesn’t start helping young people connect purpose in life and meaning to church, it will suffer, and the young adults will suffer as they get attached to things that will pull them away from God.